High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Aerois #145 | Titan of the Forge (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

The Stormchasers attempt to infuse the Starseed with Aerois' memories in Valena's forge! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes and Studio updates on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Grab some High Rollers merch: https://freshmerch.fm/collections/high-rollers Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound & TCT Adventures (Solasta: Crown of the Magisters) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome to part two of this episode of High Rollers. We join the party as they are now in the final forge. Velenor's demi-plane where she is completing two tasks set to her by her mother Siaska before she ascends and rejoins the divine spirit of Siaska. And to do so, she has incorporated the party to help her, in which they need to infuse six foci to construct something called the Starseed, a device that will basically house all the knowledge and memory and ideas and culture of Eros, as well as act as a beacon to call the souls of the dead to a brand new world or reality,

should our heroes fail and Hadar consumes all. And that is pretty much where we are. The party have made their plan as much as they can, but we are going to be jumping pretty much into it. Yeah. Let's solve memory, magic, spirit, knowledge, connection, and hope. He's got it. All at the same time.

Go, Parker. One at a time, but we're going to do it. I would like everybody to roll initiative because we are going to resolve this in initiative order. Yeah. All right. Boom. Hell yeah.

Huge. All right. I'm going to do this in my order. Lucius. Five. Wonderful. All right. Can I do this in my order? Lucius. Five. Wonderful. Quill. Six.

Whoa. Ayla. 22. One more. 22. Sentry. 14. And Nova.

13. I should have. It's that bird speed. Okay. So. The forge falls quiet as Valena places a sort of silvery sphere on the forge itself, wrapped in bands of mithril and adamantine, carved with intricate runes,

and she pulls a hammer, and you see it begin to become infused with magical energy rather than striking the device as it is she said seems to just channel raw divine power into this thing and the forging process is going to begin and because this is on so velena begins every combat and the way it works is that she has to either advance the construction. If she completes and advances the construction, then next turn she can begin to infuse one of the foci. Right? And to advance the construction, she will need aid,

as a task must be completed. Let us roll a d-d for each task. Okay. Marvelous. Okay. So as she begins calling it, you see the flames behind her, these kind of roaring furnace flames in the section behind her. And you can see them on the map just either side of this platform

that leads up to one of the foci. The flames begin to grow wild and and too hot and valina calls out heroes the furnace must be cooled find a way to cool the flames ah and that is going to be your task i will out of character tell you you need to deal more than 20 at least 20 points of cold damage, but no more than 30 points of cold damage. Oh, you want to over-cool it? Mm-hmm.

There is, and she will point at Vanilla Corza, there are pipes connected that if you must, if you do not have access to a way, they will be able to cool the furnace, but you will need some engineering to understand it, or deft hands. There are pipes on either side. Somebody can use intelligence or dexterity to try and use those to cool it, or deft hands. There are pipes on either side. Somebody can use intelligence or dexterity

to try and use those to cool it down if necessary. But that task must be completed by the beginning of Velaena's next turn in order to attempt infusing an Infokai. I think I can do this. All right, well, Ayla, you were up first, so we're gonna go through an initiative order because there are some various things.

A bunch of damage. Is it two separate flames that need both? Not, no, just one of them. Yeah, it's one thing. I put two flames to make it look cool and symmetrical, but it is just one furnace. I can try and use dexterity to... Use these pipes?

Yeah, to try and do that. Yep, do you wanna move over? Yeah, please, I've got 45 feet. So I can be fine. 15, 20, 25, 30. Easily within range. And yeah, you see that there is these complex series of chains and they're connected almost like a pipe organ. These pipes lead into the furnace.

Looking at it, you quickly realize, I'm not going to be smart enough to figure out what these do and how much water. So instead, it's a dexterity thing to see if you can cut it off when you need to, like basically have the reaction speed to do it uh so this is just a straight dexterity ability check so this is just uh d20 plus uh your dex basically okay uh 15 plus 5 20 which is exactly what you needed uh so you watch as ayla kind of rushes up, she begins pulling on these chains and water begins to pour onto the furnace

and slowly over time it begins to cool and Vayner is like, that's it, well done Ayla. And she begins channeling the energy back into it basically. So now you have time on your initiatives to kind of like, right, let's make plans, cast spells, do things in preparation. Again, I'm gonna remind you, things like, if you wanna cast boosting spells and stuff like that,

that might be valuable. I'm gonna move 10 feet back towards, just, yeah, so that, thank you, with my remaining movement, and I will rage just in case. Okay, yeah, yeah, so you begin, lightning begins coursing over your body, arcing up and down your skin, as you feel that rage that storm swell within

you uh valerie is going to attempt her saving throw to see if she can aid you this term uh unfortunately uh you see valerie is immediately overwhelmed like she is like concentrating so hard and this thing my friends i'm sorry i don't think i can i can help you right now um and she's just focusing on what she's doing so unfortunately you you do not get Valor's special power this time. We then go to Maximilian, who will look around. I can attempt to jump over to where I'm needed, but should I remain here?

What do you want me to do? Yes, be prepared here, just in case you need it, because you're quite late in the queue, I think. Very well. In that case, he will. Just not sure what else might come up. He will cast Shield of Faith on himself. So he will just boost his AC in case something is needed for that.

All right, Sentry. Sentry will bonus action raise Starbreaker and call it forth. Okay. Get that ready. So the lance grows, doubles in size and length, and the spiralling green energy surrounds it. And there's an action, she'll cast Aura of Vitality, so I can bonus action heal 2d6 to anyone within 30 feet.

Oh, that sounds good to me. Nice. All right. And done? No movement? You want to stay where you are? Stay where I am, yeah. Just get ready.

Nova Vija. I'm going to bonus action summon Tiangong, so that they're ready for combat. Well, not combat, but helping out. Okay. I'm going to bonus action summon Tiangong so that they're ready for combat. Well, not combat, but, you know, helping out. Okay. I think... I was just wondering whether or not to cast Fly on myself, but I've only got two crummy little spell slots now,

so is that a good idea? After this, by the way, we have Quill and Lucius. I'm going to cast Fly on myself, so I'm ready to rumble. You have Fly on yourself. I don't think I have enough spell level to cast it on anyone else. It's just me. There is no event currently, as nothing has gone wrong. So we go to Quill. Nice. Well, I'm going to bonus action cast Expeditious Reprieve on myself. Okay.

So that I can get zooming. And so the one she's about to activate is Memory, right? I believe so. Which is? This one on the left-hand side in like a gated area. Your job, in which case i will give you i mean i have to fly over to you but um i will give you guidance so i'm double concentrating so my boy elder quilled so is that a bonus action to summon him because you just bonus actioned expeditious I believe it is.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what do you want to do? Get an inspiration there, Mark. Huh? Get an inspiration there. Thanks, Chris Trott. Well done.

In that case, I will just not. All right. I'm not giving you guidance. Okay. Thanks, bud. In that case, I won't fly. All right. I'm not giving you guidance. Okay. All right. Thanks, bud. In that case, I won't fly over to her. Okay.

And I will retcon basically my entire turn. I have expeditious retreat. Right, yep. That's my turn. Okay, you're done. Lucius. There's not much I can do right now. I'm going to try and use my wings

and see if I can fly just up and down. As a preparatory, like, am I capable of this? You hop and you kind of, I imagine that you would flap your arms and things like that. Might be a bad time to try this. You sort of hover for a moment and then you kind of lose the grip of it. Not yet. But maybe with some practice, maybe. I'm going to cast Preemptivelyively, Absorb Elements, Fire.

It's Reaction, you can only cast it for Reaction. You could say, I'm gonna hold my action if I take fire damage, I'll cast, but it's a Reaction anyway, so. Making an assumption. The forges are cooled enough, right? Seems to be, yeah, yeah. But Velenia called out and said, yeah, well done.

Doesn't seem to be, like, the flames seem to be under control. Yep, I'll just... Ready in action. If I... If it looks like Aayla needs aid, I'll run in that direction. Okay.

So you'll just spend your movement to dash in that direction, basically. All right. Okay. Well, we go to a brand new round of Valena having success with the task being completed. She will say, Very well. We must now infuse the memory

foci begin and she will call out and yeah you have until the start of Elena's turn to infuse this foci okay all right all right so 45 45 man done So Avalyn goes 5, 10, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 40. 45. 45. Bam. Done. Right there. You get right there.

So when you arrive at it, I mean, you know that you have to touch it. Avalyn has said that you basically, it's an action to infuse. You have to spend your action to do so. You touch this column, this kind of pulsing light almost embedded in it like a cracked gemstone sort of in the heart of the column and your vision begins to swim and you suddenly find yourself no longer in the forge mentally you find yourself in a open space and just a request you feel this this request not from a person but just from existence for this to infuse this foci what you must do is let me just get my notes here um as ayla this isn't katie but as ay this is Aayla has to describe and share a memory

of an event or an Erois which encapsulates this foci. So something about the small memories, the places, the faces, the people. Something that is human. Something that is not knowledge or anything bigger, but something very personal from the character's point of view and what it means to Aayla, right?

And you are basically investing that as Aayla into this foci. I will think back to the time when I was at the Eredyth clan and the moment that they gifted me with the Howling Gale, as it was then, and explained how important it was to the clan and that Aelan knew she didn't belong with that clan and to look for answers for that, she had to leave. And they accepted that and they still gave her this heirloom

to remember them and to represent them, even though they weren't her true clan. And she took that hammer with her, and that's why she'll only fight with that. She will defend Eros with that, because that's what Erosians do. They defend their people. Okay.

So I think with this then, I think that what I would like you to make a check with is... because of the nature of it being this weapon that you fought with, and although this is, you know, the memory of the smaller things, it's going to make it a bit harder as the sort of alliances of the nature of the foci and the memory don't quite match up, but make a strength ability score. So this is just D20 plus your strength modifier. Edger, we'll see how this goes. 16 plus 7. Okay.

You realize as you're kind of regaling, as Aayla is regaling this story, as you're telling this and you're conjuring this memory, once you had this intention of the hammer and the battles, it's actually the faces of the Eredith clan. It's their names. It's the way they would go hunting. It's the places, their homes.

It's that journey that you have taken. And even though you have this memory of the hammer and the places, their homes. It's that journey that you have taken and even though you have this memory of like the hammer and the battles, it's the places like Rosehall and Arvor and these sort of more smaller memories that kind of actually you feel yourself almost not being taken from you but coming from you, almost flowing from you but coming from you, almost flowing from you. It's the feel of the hammer, it's not the way you used it but it's the sensation of the leather under your grip. It's the tartan that you carry with your friends. These things mingle together

and you feel something lock into place, like a sudden shift of the ground, and your mind returns to the forge that you now find yourself in. And there is a glowing line connecting this gemstone to you, and you have successfully infused it, this foci. Yeah, I think Aela was thinking more like, this has been with me from here all the way, and she's learned so much on this journey with this one item that it's attached to.

I think that's what it locks into, right? Like, it's like the faces and the people and the journey that that hammer has taken specifically. And that's for you guys. So Ayla kind of comes out of it, and that's what you sense. And yeah, you do see this light now connecting them, and that column is almost radiant in its glow. And Valyne will say,

That is memory. It has been infused into the seed. Now we must continue. Oh, good. I think it worked. There's a weird line. I'm just going to stay here, I guess. Okay. Great job. You got it.

Okay. Valyne, sort of encouraged by your success, is like, okay, I think I've got this. If you need my help, call for it. And she basically pulls one of her hands free, and you can see that purple magic that she cast a spell that is available. So Valar's abilities are now available to use. Awesome.

Maximilian will just look around So Avalor's abilities are now available to use. Awesome. Maximilian will just look around and sort of any direction for Max. Otherwise, he is just going to remain where you've sort of told him to. I'm going to ask him to stay where he is for now, I think. Actually, maybe come a little bit closer to Nova for what I want to do on my turn. More like five feet or...

Ten feet, yeah. Yep, yep. He will just be like, if that is what you wish, kill it. And then he will back up towards Nova. Hiya.

Sentry. I think Sentry will just remain where she is for now. Yep. Let me see. Can I hold an action? I could,

I could, I could enlarge. Yeah. And get big. You I hold an action? I could enlarge. Yeah. And get big. You want to get big? And biggen. I shall embiggen. I need to get big century. I don't have a big century.

Like a Hulkbuster mini. You will envision that you are big. So you have enlarged yourself at this point. So you swell in size. NovaVeja. I'm going to call out to Aayla and be like, what did you have to do? Think about a memory?

You just remembered we have something. So when you have completed the infusion, your strength is reduced by two. Oh, okay. Is that temporary? You don't know. I fucking hope it is. Right now you don't know, but your strength is currently reduced by two. Oh, okay. Is that temporary? You don't know. I fucking hope it is. Right now, you don't know,

but your strength is currently reduced by two. Oh, no, it's 23. Look! Shut up. So, yeah, sorry. Continue. What did you have to do? I don't know how to do it.

I'll just remember that. What? I think it's like a temporary ability damage. Yeah, I can't figure out. I thought of a thing, a memory, and kind of just seemed to take it as yay. I just thought of a thing. Okay.

Sorry. Nova, actions, moves, bonus actions. You asked the wrong person to explain what happened. It's fine. I've got like three more people before it gets to vaguely my turn. I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to... Just take notes.

I guess like ready an action that... I don't even know what. Like, you know, if... Yeah, I don't really... I guess to move towards the next thing that needs doing. I don't know if what. Like, you know, if... Yeah, I don't really... I guess to move towards the next thing that needs doing. I don't know if that's too vague, but my action will be to move towards the next task. Okay.

All right. After Nova's turn, power pulses through the forge. Now that the first foci has been infused, you begin to feel that this is an incredible amount of magical energy and that will have repercussions all of you uh i'm dead is anybody flying currently i've got fly on me but i'm not flying up in the air yeah quill you didn't because you cast it but you didn't end up flying did you i don't need to cast it but i'm on the ground firmly planted on the ground all of you feel this crushing weight on your shoulders as gravity in the forge dramatically increases uh any flying creatures would fall prone immediately

every creature in the forge has halves their speed you all take 10 force damage at the start of your turn. Oh, okay. At the start of your turn. Good thing I did Expeditious Retreat. And you feel like, Valayne are like, we must try and complete these tasks that should hopefully alleviate

some of the discrepancies in the forge. But we then go to Quill. So please take your 10 force damage. Your speed is halved currently. Speed is halved. But we then go to Quill, so please take your 10 force damage. Uh, okie dokie. Your speed is halved currently. Speed is halved, and I guess I can't fly. You cannot fly currently. Okay, let me just do a concentration on my Expeditious.

Uh, 14, so... You're fine. DC 10. Oh, that's annoying, because I can now move 15 feet, which is not very far. Oh, well, actually, yeah. Well, wait, what's the expeditious development if you double? It's a bonus action by the way. I want to bring out my boy. Oh, right.

Bring out the boy. I'll bring out my boy, my Elden boy. I don't know. He's just a ghost, it doesn't matter. He's a ghost, it doesn't matter. Yeah, and I want to... Yeah, I'm going to nudge towards the guys, and I'll do that in a sec. And I want to cast... 15?

Yeah. And I want to capture everyone in my Beacon of Hope. So bonus action, boy. Action, beacon. Okay. So it doesn't hit Ayla. Alright, so Ayla's the only one who doesn't get it. We're too far away and we're heavy now. Done? Done. Lucius, 10 force damage.

Speed is halved. I'm going to move my way up the bridge. So with this gravity... I think what I'm going to have to do is dash this round. 15. Do you want to action dash? Then be ready because she hasn't called out yet. She hasn't called it out yet.

You're reaching towards it and you're like... this round. 15. Yeah, do you want to action dash? Then be ready, because she hasn't called out. She hasn't called it out yet. If you're, like, reaching towards it, and you're like, every step is this agonizing kind of, like, thud as this gravity is pressing down on you. But yeah, she hasn't. In fact, she won't be able to call it out yet, because she needs to complete more

advancement on the... on the... I think I'm in position. Does anyone else feel really heavy? Very heavy. Yes. Okay. As you are doing this,

this would be... You see as Valena is kind of channeling, she now pulls out sort of a chisel and you begin to see more runes begin to magically etch themselves on the seed itself but as she does so a crack

erupts through the anvil itself and Felena champions you must fix the anvil in whatever means you can find and that is the task and Aayla can't move and Lucius is too far away probably this is what I said how the hell And that is the task. And Aayla can't move, and Lucius is too far away, probably. This is what I said.

Yeah. First. How the hell do we fix that? Ooh. That's a great question. That must be completed before Volunus next time. Aayla. Wait.

Oh, okay. You are, I mean, you can still call out advice. If you had any spells that you would still be able to cast, but unfortunately you cannot move unless you wish to break this infusion. I don't think I have anything... You are going to be a bit limited, I think. ...that would be useful to anyone.

But I will just go, Sentry's big! Sentry can fix it! Yeah. I will, as a little reminder as well, call out that Valor has her abilities. It's her turn next, and she'll have to make the saving throw again to see if she can do that.

I will. Alright, so Valor's turn next. I'll make a saving throw. Unfortunately, she fails, and as that cracks, she's like and she has to bring her hand back in and can no longer offer assistance. Maximilian will look at you, Nova, and the anvil is made of metal,

and he'll say, I think I can heat it. I could probably heat it with some of my fire magic, and that might be able to make it easier to mend. Yeah, go for it. I can fix it with Tiangong. Do you not want, should I not go? Go towards your pillar.

All right. You'll move towards this pillar. And that is his turn. He takes his 10 damage as well. Oh, I didn't take my 10 damage. Yeah, if you can take your 10 force damage please as well. Century, 10 force damage and your turn. I'll roll concentration on the beacon of hope.

That's DC 10. 5, that goes. Well, add your constitution saving throw. Oh yeah. I'm almost certain that you shouldn't be failing on that. Oh yeah, 12. Yeah, you should be right. Nice.

Were you on beacon of hope as well? Yeah. Beacon of vitality. Ah. War of vitality be right. Nice. Were you at Beacon of Hope as well? Yeah. Beacon of Vitality. War of Vitality, sorry. Cool. The 26th party body. I will run over to the forge.

Can I hold it together? So you can go 5, 10, 15. It's going to be on sort of, yeah, you're just about five feet away, unfortunately, to actually touch it. Misty step the five feet? Yeah, you could bonus action misty step, yeah. Yeah, I'll do that. Yep.

So you kind of see this, I mean this is like metal, it has like a split down the seam of it. So is your intent to sort of just push it together kind of thing? Just hold it together, yeah. Okay, yeah, make a athletics check. This is gonna be pretty hard though.

This is like solid metal, basically. Five again. 15. 15's not gonna be anywhere close to like, this is like trying to push this huge chunk of metal together as this crack is widening. You can see like every moment it's growing wider and wider. You're trying to hold it,

but you're not sure if you're making it worse or even just stalling it. I can't hold it! Nova Vija. Ten points of damage. Tiangong's gone, right? Afraid so. The gravity crushes Tiangong.

From 30 foot away. Actually, the way I'd like to see this is Tiangong vanishes back into me. My sword glows as I hold it up, and I cast Creation on the anvil. Just fill the seam. Which I can create metal to fill the seam. Amazing. Great, perfect use of that spell.

Yes, you watch as it just fills with steel, like molten steel that then immediately hardens. And as it does, essentially, you let go. Power kind of rushes back into it. You do all feel that pressure of the gravity falls away. That gravity effect ends because you completed the task. And it kind of

comes back in. I was just rolling for concentration on fly. I've still got it. You've still got it. Great. So the anvil and light fell in. Good. I will attempt to we can attempt to infuse the next foci in just a moment. And then she I've still got it. You've still got it. Great. So the anvil and light fell in. She's like, good, I will attempt to, we can attempt to infuse the next foci in just a moment.

And then she continues kind of like carving their insides. But be ready. She calls out. Can I bonus action re-summon Tiangong? You can. Where do you want Tiangong to go?

Next to you? Yeah, next to me. Next to you. All right. Quill. Oh, God. I'm just going to nudge back to where I was before

so I can, when needed, get towards the knowledge moat. Sure. Okay. Nothing else? That's all I really want to do. I don't want to burn any slots just yet. Lucius, it's not been called out.

Velenor is not ready for you to infuse it just yet, unfortunately. I think what I'll do instead then, with my gauntlet, can I cast a cantrip and then capture it in the gauntlet. A cantrip wouldn't help you because the gauntlet needs to absorb levels of spells. The cantrip doesn't have them. I'll do a level. Level two. All right.

So you cast that level two spell and immediately use your reaction to absorb it into your now wing-like gauntlet. I think that Wish would have changed it to fit it, but it is like this metallic peacock wing arm thing. Epic. I keep forgetting he's a fucking peacock. Remember that throughout all of this, he's a peacock. Look at this bird with his metal arm. You've got metal, you've got shimmy arms.

Oh, we could do the Arnold Schwarzenegger handshake thing. Yeah, so you cast the spell, Lucius. Out of interest, any particular spell? I think what I'd do at level two is just a chromatic orb. So you fire a chromatic orb and then immediately... Catch it and then bring it in. And you gain the charges. I don't think that doesn't take you over the limit,

so you don't have to worry about the saving throw. Oh, it's empty at the moment. Yeah, okay, so you've got two charges. I'm thinking to fill it up really. Nice. Well, annoyingly, because of the way the initiative, Valena is like, she finishes carving these runes, and, you know, in the six seconds,

she calls out and is just like, now, the next magic, the next foci. Be with you in a bit. Yeah, that's just the next foci. Get with your bit. Yeah, that's just the way it is. But feel free to just say, like, there's nothing I can do. There's nothing I can do. Yeah, it's fine. You got it, Lucius!

Yeah, I mean, you can absolutely give us some cheerleading out. Valor does, nope, doesn't succeed. She's still deftly focused. I'm rolling really badly, unfortunately, for her. As she's focused on the forging of the star seed. Maximilian will, looking over at Lucius, he can't really aid you in any way. He will...

Okay, as his bonus action, he will actually elect Quill as his royal guard. This won't, unfortunately, really help until he's next to you, but he basically looks at you, Quill, and you see he just is like, if I can reach you, I will try and protect you, Kelek. Oh. Oh. Well.

He really needs healing, so Max is just going gonna hold his position for the time being century I will make my way back over to behind the Lena towards the connection moats and I'll hold my position is about there's about 15 20 feet up in the air by the way the the actual node behind her. It's embedded into the wall. Nice. All right, Nova Vigia. Yeah, I'm just going to hold my action to move towards whatever task he's doing next. The forge pulses once more.

There's another event to take place. Okay, so having cooled, when Aayla cooled the furnace before, the furnace itself, the flames turn icy white and the temperature in the forge rapidly decreases. Everybody will be taking 20 cold damage at the start of their turn as the temperature drops into this place. Yes. As an elemental adept of ice, would I take half? Does it give you resistance?

No. No, it lets you ignore resistance. Nice try. Such a gnarly boy. If you have cold resistance in any other means, by all means, that would provide you with resistance. I know what I'll do. I got it.

So yeah, the temperature is dropping with resistance. I know what I'll do. All right. I got it. All right. So, yeah, the temperature, like, is dropping, and Valencia's like, until we must press on, as she calls out. We then go to Quill. 20 points of cold damage, please. Oof.

Owie, my bones. My cold, cold bones. From where I am... I see Lucius, like, preparing to reach out to the foci. Yeah. Bones! My cold, cold bones! From where I am... Lucius preparing to reach out to the foci. Yeah, I think I'll just keep everyone here topped up as best I can. So I'm gonna do a Mask Cure Wounds.

And since everyone has got Beacon of Hope, they're gonna get their maxed. Everyone but Aayla. Everyone but Aayla, but I can't reach Aayla anywhere. I don't think, oh, where she's 60 think. Oh, well, she's 60 feet. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60. Okay, in that case, yeah, I'll just hit everyone. Everyone gets max 3d8, plus 6.

You get... 24 plus 6, 30. Yeah. You get 9, 10, 16. It's garbage on that 3d8. So what do we get? We get 30. Yeah, everyone gets 30.

They get 20, 19, whatever it was. I don't know. I've forgotten already. Okay. All right. You done? I'm done. All right.

Lucius, you're going to take 20 cold damage. Can I absorb elements on that? Yep. You can use your reaction to cast absorb elements. I'll do that. And then use my action to infuse the Foci. Okay. Similar to Ayla, as you touch it and you kind of try and connect with this thing, your mind, you suddenly find yourself in a sort of liminal space, this ongoing white space.

You are actually back in your mind space. You are a high elf again. You find yourself back in your high elf form as you feel again this request, this need to be shared with, to instill something of you here into the seed.

To use you as a conduit to connect to the wider concept of magic in Erois. And so, very much like Ayla, I would like you, as Lucius, to describe or share a memory or event in Erois which encapsulates magic from your character's point of view and what it meant to your character. Wow, okay.

I think Lucius will recall the moment that Valor revealed her potent power for the first time as the daughter of Siaska. That moment where the big purple energy just blasted out and that kind of disrupted all of our worlds as well as set us on the course to where we are today. as well as set us on the course to where we are today. So Lucius will recall that with very strong recollection because it was a poignant moment and also just unveiled the true potential of such a small person of a Rois. Okay, yeah, I like that. So thinking about that with the way you've described it.

It's untapped potential of all Erosions, basically. Yeah, I like that. So thinking about that with the way you've described it. It's untapped potential of all erosions, basically. Yeah, I like that. Can you make a charisma ability modifier for me then? Oh, yeah, I can. The way that you described it ties into that very well. So it's just d20 plus your charisma modifier, knowing just the modifier for charisma. Very well.

That is a 19. 19. Your charisma is reduced by 2, but you do feel, again, that kind of locking sensation. Your mind recalls, and you find yourself back in the forge as an Arakokra. But again, you now have this kind of shimmering purple line of light connecting you to this column.

As you lock in, and you feel that foci take place. And yeah, Valenor will call out and say, yes, we are growing closer. Two of them are complete. I fear that the forge may begin to grow more unstable. She will then resume her forging, this time bringing out various sort of bands of metal, which with a gesture,

they sort of hover in place over the seed and begin to rotate in various sort of patterns and mannerisms as they almost begin to speed up encircling the sphere as she does so I need to roll on a task Okay, so... Let's see. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 4, 5, 6. Aayla, the foci around you that you're currently connected to begins to brim with energy.

Too much energy. Radiant light. Valayna will say, Aayla's foci is growing too strong. You must transfer the energy from one of the foci to a region that is not near the anvil or another foci is growing too strong you must transfer the energy from one of the foci to a region that is not near the anvil or another foci you should be able to transfer it from person to person

you know Ayla if you touch the foci if any creature touches that foci that you're next to you will take some damage but you can then as an action pass that damage to somebody else next to you like with a touch um and you basically have to get this energy away from the anvil and any other foci right so you have to pass it between you to get there um so if my held action

was to move towards the next task does this count yeah i'd say so yeah so you can move 30 feet um well because i've got flies i'll put oh yeah i'll touch the the foci and i will yes so it's then go to a listen so you touch the foca you're going to take some lightning damage uh my favorite yeah it's uh sorry it wasn't radiant energy i just meant to say lightning what was the cold damage by the way 20. yeah it would be reduced oh cold damage and then 20 points of cold damage, by the way. 20. It was 20. Yeah, it would be reduced to 10. Oh, shit, cold damage. And then 20 points of cold damage, yep, please. And then that's actually quite a lot. That's 15, 21.

27 lightning damage, so half that to... 18. 18, thank you. So as you touch it, you feel this lightning kind of course through your body, but you, as an action, can now basically touch somebody else and you'll pass it to them, this energy, basically. Nova has literally just flown in next to you. I'll pass it to Nova.

Okay, all right. Nova will get resistance because she's in my aura. Yeah, that's right. So we go 15, 22, so 11 lightning damage to Nova. Nova, you are now carrying that energy, and again, you can move and discharge it as an action. You can give it to somebody else. Cool.

Did you just lose concentration on fire? I got 14 plus... You're fine. Three, so yeah, fine. You're fine, all right. Valorant, her turn. Still, unfortunately, unable to. Like twos and threes every time.

Would have been a useful time to have it. Yeah, a portal, yeah. That's exactly it. Maximilian will, kind of seeing Nova rush over and hearing this instruction, he's going to move. And he will basically ready an action to use his healing flames when you get within range of him. He sees that you're carrying this lightning, so he will try and use that when he gets close to you. Sentry, he also will take the 20 points of cold damage. Sentry, 20 points of cold damage.

20 points. QVS. We need to do something about that. Can I move up next to Nova and take the damage the, take the damage off Nova. I can't move. 25, 30, 5, 10, 15, 20, you can get an extra if you dash. Yeah, I'll dash.

Okay, so you like move next to Nova. Form a chain. Yep, and then on Nova's turn, she'll be, she has to be on Nova's turn, she discharged it and passed it to you, right? Cool. Where does this need to go? Somewhere.

Yeah, you don't know the radius, but it needs to not hit another foci or the anvil. So you decide where you think that's going to be. Okay. Sentry, you done? I will bonus action healing word. Not healing word. Lay on hands?

No. It's an action. Or a vitality. That's the one, yeah. Or a vitality, yep. Or myself. Well, you actually get maxed because of Beacon of Hope, right, Tom? Any healing. Yes, yeah.

So you get two DCs. You get maxed. You get maxed. Yeah. All right. In that case, we then go to Nova Vigia. Can I discharge it into the freezing fort? The freezing...

You can try. You can try whatever you want. Because she said not the anvil, right? The foci and the anvil. Keep it away from other foci and the anvil. But the mishap that happened at the beginning of this was the forge start, the fire started burning up. Yeah, the fiery sides of the furnace, yeah. I'm going to try. Can I discharge it into the fire okay so you're gonna fly to what

the nearest point yeah so like where do you want to go sort of like here do you want to move close yeah well how how far do i it's a touch isn't it i mean you've got 60 foot of flight right yeah yeah you can go pretty much okay yeah you have to go next to it basically yeah um oh and i take 20 points you do take 20 points of cold damage. And when you discharge it, so the foci is about 20 feet up in the air. Yeah, it's just, if you kind of touch the edge of the furnace, it just about misses. Like, it comes close.

Like, there was about a 20-foot radius sort of eruption of this thing. Yeah, it's just because I'm assuming you were actually, like, here. Yeah, like, all up in the air. And then it's about 20 feet up to this. So as you discharge it, it nearly catches the anvil and the foci, but just barely misses both sides. Cool. When you do, you take the lightning damage again as well.

Okay. You don't have resistance this time, I don't think. 12, 17. 24 points of lightning damage as you discharge it. But as it discharges, the temperature in the room, because it discharges the furnace, the temperature also begins to stop. Oh, cool. So the cold energy is now gone.

The lightning's been discharged. Vena's like, ah, yes, now I can begin to focus. I'll prepare the next foci. Be ready. I rolled 19 on constitution statement. For concentration, even. You're still fine. It's half damage or 10, so you're fine. Can I also be like, Lucius, what did you have to do? I had to, again, like Ayla, think of a memory

that encapsulates Eros and its magical potential. Great. I know. Just think of fun memories, it's fine. Try and make it connected to Eros in particular, and all of Eros. Can I re-summon Tiangong again? He's already there.

Yeah, but he would've taken, he would've taken. Oh, the cold damage. The cold damage. Yeah, just re-summon him. Just die and live again. Them, even. Okay. The next one is spirit. Spirit.

Max time. Max needs to get moving. Max needs to move. Yes. Yes. He got us. So. Okay. So after, as Nova discharges the lightning

and the temperature begins to fade, a surge of magic pulses from the anvil. I need all of you to make charisma saving throws. Yay. Charisma. I got plus 11 on that. I think Bailey gets a plus. I needed it.

No, I rolled a two. I fail. I got a surprising amount of a plus. I needed it. No, I rolled a two. I fail. I've got a surprising amount of charisma. Not with that roll. DC 20. Not with that roll. 21. 21.

Everybody else? 30. 30 total? Yeah. Damn. Max also fails. So Lucius and Sentry, nothing happens. You feel this kind of pulse over you and nothing changes.

The rest of you, you feel suddenly quite heavy and slow, but you don't feel anything different until you see yourselves. Your bodies have become transformed into like a living metal. You now weigh ten times your normal weight. Your speed is halved. You have disadvantage on weapon attacks, however you deal double physical weapon damage

and have resistance to all damage except psychic. So you feel your body's kind of like as your skin becomes this silvery, shiny metal. I just feel it became Colossus. I can't move anywhere, so I'm just chilling here. Just chilling. Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quill?

Yeah. I mean, again, I'm way at the bottom of the initiative. Everyone is solving problems before it even gets to me. You solve the problem that makes it too far away. At the end of the initiative. There's no immediate threats right now. I mean, you don't know if this metal thing is going to become a problem, but... How do we even get rid of that?

Yeah, I... Can I figure out some way? Because I don't want to dispel the anvil. Did Max say... No, it would be... No, Max didn't. Max is currently metal as well. So his speed is half. Oh, fuck.

Yeah, Max is a problem right now. Oh, crap. See, there's a problem for you to fix now. In that case, presuming this is a spell and that it is dispellable, I will move 15 feet towards the anvil and towards everyone else as best as I can, and I'll pop another Mask Your Wounds.

Okay. So fifth level or lower, it will get dispelled. Fifth level? Doesn't affect it. Did I say fifth? You did. I meant... No, you said fifth.

Ninth. I said fifth level. So you restore the hit points. everybody gets the hit points back as normal the spell takes effect but the metal body transformation does not disappear with the bell breaker uh so 30 healing again and either you get uh 10 13 nine you're sure up next but you're obviously locked down but you can still cast bells. You can do other stuff. Anything you can think of, you can do, but you just can't move more than 10 feet from the foci. Any done, Quill? That's me.

All right. Lucius. Where I am right now, I would like to cast Fly on Max, which is a touch spell I know. I would like to make it a distance spell. So you're going to spend sorcery points to cast a distance spell. Nice. Okay. Which means you can pass up to 30 spell, I know. I would like to make it a distance spell. So you're going to spend sorcery points to cast a distance spell. Nice, okay.

Which means you can pass up to 30 feet, I think. Yeah, I'm going to move to the extent of my range and then reach out. You're within 30 feet where you are anyway. Max, you look metal. I'm going to try and make it easier on you. You can fly. Yeah, I mean, he senses this.

He's like, I think I can sense it. It is still going to half his movement, but it does increase it still going to half his movement, but it does increase it from, like, 15 to 30 feet. Like, he's, like, still heavy as he lifts off the ground, but, yeah, he is now able to fly, but still slowed, unfortunately. Okay. But, yeah, still better than 15 feet.

Yeah. Great. All right. So that's Lucius. If I was to cast Slow on the environment, would that technically negate our... No. Okay. That would make everything worse. If I was to cast Hello on the environment, would that technically negate our... No. Okay. Valena will call out,

the next foci, spirit, now! And you can see the more of these foci that become infused, it's like Valena is growing weaker. Her muscles are slowly shrinking. Her hair is going greyer. She's becoming smaller, and you can see that that divine power is being siphoned away from her. And she calls out, and yeah, Max is like,

I'm trying, as he's going to attempt to do what he can. But Ayla, is there anything you would like to try and help out with or do? There's really not much I can do because I can't move. Magic items or... It's all right. If the answer's no, the answer's no. I don't have anything that he could...

What does that say? No. I have a ring of free action, but it requires attunement. Mm-hmm. Which I could throw to him, which magic can neither reduce your speed nor cause you to be paralyzed. Unfortunately, the attunement, it would require an hour to attune to it. Then I have nothing.

So you're just sort of like, you've got a sentry near you, you're kind of like trying to see what's going on, but nothing can help. Valerie's unfortunately still concentrating. I rolled a 12, plus six is not enough. Max. It's not enough. Yeah. It's 20.

Maximum is 10. Five. 10. Five. 10. 15. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20.

20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. 20. I can reach there but I won't have the time. I can dash. I can reach there but I can dash. I can reach another turn. That's not going to work. Yeah, he's like, I can reach there, but I won't have the time. And he can dash. He will dash, fly. He's flying magically.

You know, even though the flight is not physical, something is still slowing him down. Like this magical transformation is making it harder for him to fly. He manages to reach the point, but he's reaching out towards it. Is Valor able to haste? Not this time.

She failed her saving throw. If she'd had plus two more to her saves, you would have made it, but she was two off. Century. I'm trying to see if I can... No, I don't think I can get to max.

I will then move... I'll move back behind Valena, back towards the connection station. Do you want to dash? Yeah, I'll dash, please. You basically get all the way back over here, yeah? Yeah. Right, so you get to the back right behind Valena,

but that's the full turn. Yep. Nova VJ. So Max is not going to be able to touch it with Enlis. Unless you've got some crazy idea. Like, I'm happy to take some crazy ideas. Well, I was going to use my Amethyst Lodestone to Gravitational Thrust him towards it.

Well, he's there. The problem is he's reaching out to touch this thing. But if I give him a boop with that... To save his movement so he can use his action... What does Gravitational Thrust do again? Inventory. Amethyst Lodestone. As an action, you can expend one charge To save his movement so he can use his action. What does gravitational thrust do again? Inventory. Amethyst.

Lodestone. As an action, you can expend one charge to focus gravity around a creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The target must succeed. An 18 strength saving throw will be pushed up to 20 feet in a direction of your choice. So it would get him there. You would need to... So you would probably...

I would say you would need to push him into it. So I know it says by your choice, but it has to be a line basically away from you kind of thing, I would say you would need to, like, push him into it. So I know it says by your choice, but it has to be, like, a line, basically, like, away from you kind of thing, I think. Or, like, pull him. But whereabouts is no. You're back here. And you're currently metal as well, aren't you? And I've got fly on me.

So you can move 30 feet with the metal transformation. So you can try and get as close to him as possible. And try that, if you'd like. Yeah, like, try and smush him. He won't make the saving throw. He's not going to resist it. But I think it would be trying to overcome this metal, this weight basically to thrust him.

So let's see. If you go 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. Even if I'm flying though because I'm up. Even if you're up here, he's also flying. If he's there, I can just smush him into it. It's going to be tricky. I'd say you could definitely make a roll for it. Make a charisma ability modifier,

because this is like a spellcasting thing. I'm also just wondering if I can get Tiangong and teleport, or if I get Tiangong into it. Because Tiangong isn't metal. No, technically, no. So I could get Tiangong into a good line, do the teleport switch between us, and then gravitational thrust him. You could do that, but doesn't Tiangong go after you? They go on...

At the end of your turn, after you've taken your turn. Is it? No. Is it a free action to move them? I think so. Okay, yeah, fair enough. As a bonus action, you can teleport and magically swap. Yeah, know that one.

You can mentally command the Echo to move up to 30 feet in any direction, no action required. Okay, yeah, all right. Well, 30 feet's unfortunately going to take it where you are. You're not going to be able to get any further than that. But if Tiangong moved to where I am, we teleport moved, I still have movement. That's true, yeah. So if you did it that order, you sent sent Tiangong first, swapped and then moved. Is it a bonus action to activate the gravitational thrust?

It is an action. It's an action. So it makes sense. Yeah, it works out. As an action. So you would have Tiangong would go there. You would then swap places with Tiangong. And then you would have 30 feet of movement to like basically go Yeah. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30. To go into a good position. Uh-huh. And then you're sort of facing a line.

Yeah, okay, yeah. I'd say that now you're in a much better position to kind of try and thrust him forward. Still going to be a roll, but it's just going to be a much easier roll. What rollie do you want? Just d20 plus charisma, because this is going to be overcoming

the sort of transformation metal spell. So plus five. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. So Nova sort of thrusts with this gauntlet that you took from Zarkira, and you feel this gravitational wave kind of pulse out from it, and it just gives Max enough that where he's reaching out, you know, slowed by this thing, he manages to touch, reach forward, and grasp it. Awesome. Now, you

guys don't get to see Max's memory, but I am going to make a check for him. This would be with his strength modifier because he would focus on the battle. How good's his story, though? That's what I'm trying to

work out. Trying to read his face how epic it was I love playing I've got 22 passports Max hell better stories Max so what you see is Max is kind of rebuffed by this thing

he's kind of like pulsed away from it like as he's knocked back he still loses two points of strength. He also gains a level of exhaustion, and the column begins to spark. The metal effect on everybody ends, and another effect is going to take place. One, two, three, four, five, six.

One, two, three, four, five, six. Okay, so from the anvil, Black Lightning crackles out and strikes the three nearest player characters. So that would be Quill, Sentry, and... Valor doesn't count. Nova? Me? 35.

35. It's even, so I'll just roll a d6. Just do it for me. No. Oh. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1, 2, 3. It was Aayla.

I'm useless. Let me be useful. Let me tell you, though, it's not actually lightning. It's necrotic. Oh, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three. It was Aayla. I'm useless. Let me be useful. Let me tell you, though, it's not actually lightning. It's necrotic. Oh, wow. As this thing strikes you. So against Aayla, this is an attack roll. 24.

Yep. Against, who was the other one? Quill. Natural 20. Oh, no. Okay. 22. 22. Yeah.

All right. Sentry and Aayla are going to take... Get ready to quaff, everyone. 14 necrotic damage to both of you. I'll do a concentration check. You have disadvantage on strength ability checks, and you are at half speed. As this lightning kind of courses through your body,

you feel it sap away your strength. That lasts until a new event or a task is completed. So disadvantage on all strength checks, half speed, and you take that damage. Because I'm raging, does that negate my advantage? It would. It would just make it flat rolls. Yeah, it would just make it flat rolls. For Quill,

that is going to be 8, 16, 32 necrotic damage. And you have the same effects. Disadvantage on strength, half movement speed. Half. Oh, again,

but the metal's gone. Okay. The metal's gone. The metal is now gone. As this kind of like blasts outward, striking the three of you. Max is like, he like looks exhausted as he touches this.

That's a lot better for him. My concentration on both things are gone. Oh, dear. That's not good. Valena, you see her shudder, and as that foe begins to see the column crack, she looks up and she holds her hand out with the hammer. In fact, she'd point her hammer at it. And you watch as the hammer flares with magic.

She shrinks again in sort of size and strength, but the column reforges itself as she refixes the foci that Max failed to properly infuse. She looks and says like, she looks over towards Ayla and with her other hand, she like holds it out and that line that was connecting you to the column goes into Valena's hand

and she is now like focusing on both things. You are free to move and can attempt to re-infuse with a different column. But this is zapping Valena's strength quickly. You do not think she can maintain this for very long. Okay, okay, okay. So does that mean someone else has to take that tether? I would also say, well, Max also is exhausted,

which means he has disadvantage on ability checks, and ability checks are what he needs to make the infusion. So he kind of stumbles back. He's like, I'm sorry. You can see that he almost seems shaken up by something. He's seen things that he probably has found very upsetting, and he's stumbling backwards, holding his head as he does so. That was Nova's turn.

We then go to Quill. Okey-dokey. How am I going to get over there? Yeah, I want to try and find a way of getting you over there, but I don't think I have much that can help, unfortunately. You get a gravitational blast, and you get a gravitational

blast. Lucius, you're up next afterwards. I know you can't move, but if there's any spells you want cast. I'll just bring in my Aura of Vitality at third level, and as a bonus action, 2d6 on myself. Just to bring back that massive chunk of health I just lost. Lucius.

Nice four healing! Lovely! Lucius. You're the best DM ever. Just tell me what you want. Here we go. I mean, this is the encounter for creative ideas, but... If I was to make a wall of ice into a ramp, like bridge... You've done this before.

You've done similar stuff before. With the whole skeleton? I basically just want to connect that diagonal to this one with 10... 10 centimeter... 10 centimeter? 10 centimeter. 10 centimeter? 10. Why have I only got six if it's 10, if they're 10 feet?

Why have I only got six? I don't know. 10, 10 feet, so that's 100 feet of bridge. 100 feet of ice bridge. Which, you know, of course, I will say this is just gonna divide the map as you see it. I can get rid of it as soon as possible.

All you need is a little bit of momentum, and you're basically there. Well, big benevolent DM. Big. I've placed the minis now, so you cast that spell. Okay. Well, I was thinking the way I was going to do it was flip them so the walls are, like, horizontal. Uh-huh. And it's, like, anchored up here and on that bit.

You see what I mean? Yeah. And they're suspended above so people can run underneath it. It's like a bridge. It's like a bridge, yeah. It's a very weak bridge in the middle. It's literally made of ice. It's, like, five foot thick, though, isn't it? It is five foot thick, but there's nothing in the middle.

If it's, like, between two far points. The anvil. You want it to touch the anvil halfway. It's five foot thick, but there's nothing in the middle. If it's between two far points, you want it to touch the anvil? No, I don't. You can definitely make a ramp, but it is going to have to be anchored. Even if it's not every point, there's going to be arches that come down and stuff like that. Because I don't quite have enough to make it reach anyway. What if these are just the bridge bits that come down yeah that's what i was thinking so that sort of goes there i'll do it at a higher level than expected to make it extra fancy i mean you don't have to do that that's a fancy bridge you said that it works well carved i feel like

it's necessary cool so yeah i mean you you craft the wall cast the wall of ice there's no question about that you create this sort of like bridge with these structure supports if you run onto it right and do a cool stance you'll slide the whole way without using any movement i will say that ayla can certainly make an acrobatics check to try and get extra distance check um bridge. I think this is about balance, not pure strength on this one. I can remove this at any time. Just let me know.

Done? Yes. Meanwhile, as a foci has been broken, Valena needs to complete another task around the forge. This is going to be... So she says, before you can reattempt that foci you must take energy from the forge take it to that foci and install it similar to how the energy was discharged previously so the anvil now crackles

with radiant energy and very similar to the lightning energy you had to take away from the foci you now have to take energy from the anvil to the depowered foci that Max is next to. Nice. So while you're cool surfing over there, slap the anvil. So we, yeah, we can't, I can't, I've got extra time to get to it then because that needs to happen before I can get to it.

Yes, that has to happen before you can get there, yes. So someone else can actually help me by doing that while I make my way my merry way yeah cross the ice all right so ayla you want to try and get across the uh where the folkway is yes all right so you're going to go on the ice ice bridge of doom ice bridge of doom sure all right this is no check for you to climb up on it you're more than strong enough to just jump on top of this bridge and run across it. The biggest thing here is going to be your balance

as you try and gain the extra distance and speed. I should have made it a luge. Like a... Even if you did, you could still slide over the sides. Yeah, that would be worse. Let me... 16. I'll say that it's fine. You managed to make it across. You kind of managed to slide, Uh, 16.

I'll say that it's fine. You managed to make it across. You kind of managed to slide, but that is going to be a dash action for you to get all the way across. It's going to be a movement and an action to get. It's like 100 feet. Can I grab that energy on the way past? No, you cannot. It's an action. It's a bonus action to take the energy. That's fine.

I will be over at the other one then. Also, I can't dismiss the wall of ice. It's very much a physical object. It's there now. It's there now. We can't dismiss it. It's there. In some good news...

It's been architectured for solving. Valor sort of sensing that things are going wrong, she pulls one of her arms away, still maintaining that concentration, like, I think I can help. Call me if you need my aid. Tell me what you want. Luck haste or portal.

Yeah, luck haste or portal, basically. Max, he, like, staggers back, and he's, like, desperately holding his breath. He's like, I'm sorry, Ayla. I tried. It's fine, don't worry. It's fine, we're good. And he will, uh,

I will try and fetch the energy. Well, he has to get through that wall of ice, remember? I said that there was archways. Oh, yeah. That's fine. He will... It's a beautiful elven sculpture. So he will move, he will hold his action, that if somebody basically passes him the energy, he will then move back to where Aayla is.

So he's going to try and like ferry it like that. But he's like holding his, he's like tag me to do that. Relay race. Yeah. Yeah, I'll run up to the anvil, tag the energy and pass it to Max. 15, so it takes about 20 feet of movement to get the energy. It's going to be some radiant damage coming your way. Rock and roll.

Oh, luckily that was a very poor roll. 15 radiant damage. Okie dokie. I'll roll concentration for vitality. 17. That's cool. Yep, that's fine. You've got about 10 feet of movement left.

So touching it is a bonus action. So you move bonus action, you get 10 feet next to Quill, and then you would need to do... I'll do a dashy dash. Yeah, you can do a dash. And then as Max was waiting, he will take that from you. Is it the Arnold? Son of a bitch.

They did it before us. But you do it. Plate on plate. Hmm plate he takes 22 points of radiant damage and then he will action dash basically back up to Aayla

and then he will unfortunately he can't infuse it but he's ready there waiting to sort of infuse it basically okay Nova Vija

it's not a lot to be done right now is it there's plenty of things like setting people up giving people buffs I can't buff anything I can stab them get ready

can I wander into the more towards Sentry yeah Sentry I'm kind of wondering if Quill was right and maybe you should be hope and I should be connection.

Whatever works best. You're our morale officer, you're full of hope. Okay, okay, I'll take hope. The mace, high five. Bam! We can do that in person. And then can I use as a free action get Tiangong to start climbing

up towards the connection pillar? Yep. So I'm next to Sentry now. You move next to Sentry, and then Tiangong... So it is 20 feet up in the air. How's he gonna get up? They can climb? Uh, yep. You could make a check if you want, or?

No, you climb this way, I think. So I think it's that difficult terrain. I think he can get there, but that ends his, like, their turn. They basically get there and then that's it. They spend their whole move just trying to get there. I just want them in place. Yeah, so yeah, kind of,

this swordsman-like figure kind of climbing, ascending up to it. Okay, at the end of Nova's turn, a swordsman-like figure kind of climbing, ascending up to it. Okay. At the end of Nova's turn, where is the next collection? Century Quill and Nova. Oh. The forge begins to rumble, and a number of columns begin to...

Oh, they're cute. This one is... My bridge. Oh, they're cute. Not quite. It might do. These columns of earth seem to erupt forwards from these seismic kind of... These columns erupt. I need, yeah, Quill, Sentry, Nova to make...

Dexterity saving throws, please. Okey-dokey. 18. 18. 14. 14. We'll get plus three from me as well. Oh, 18.

17. 21. 15. 21. Nova is the only one. Nova, you managed to kind of throw yourself to the side. Also, sentry's aura

kind of like protecting you. Quill and sentry both take 20 points of bludgeoning damage and you have a choice. You can either be knocked prone and pushed to one side of the column, or you can go up the column and be on top of it.

What do you wanna do? What do you wanna do? You wanna ride this bitch? Ride it? If you ride a column? I'll ride a column. All right. So you're both about 30 feet up in the air

as this column launches you up. How much of the column is Sentry taking up versus Quill? Mostly Sentry and then Quill sort of on the edge. Onto her leg. Yeah, sure. You guys erupted. And those columns actually provide like, they block like passage and line of sight and stuff like that.

So they are big. The miniatures are not big enough as I would like them to be. Substantial. They are substantial. Quill. God, now I'm up here. I'm just going to hang on to dear life on Sentry's leg. Don't fall off this thing.

Lucius. There's very little I can do from here. So, yeah, I forgo my action. All right. Valena rapidly is failing with power. You can see her desperately withering away as she's trying to hold this other foci but also waiting for this next

task to be completed. Valor, can you give luck to Valena? It won't affect her in the same way. She's expending her divine power. That won't affect anything your portals do they last long? they'll last until I'm ready again

until I have to maintain concentration you give me luck so I can try and do this thing uh yeah do you want luck or you want I don't know what is it haste, luck or she can create

two portals anybody can use it at any time it's not like a reroll right it's basically a reroll yeah well what where are we in initiative right now so you're gonna go next me next yep okay the foci is not powered but max has the can i be hasted so i can power it and then you absolutely could do that yes i'll do that all right so yeah so val will power it and then use it? Yes, you absolutely could do that, yes. I'll do that. All right. So, yeah, so Valor will lean over and sort of be like, hold still, and you feel Aayla, like, you see, like, another Aayla sort of, like, almost separate from you, and everybody's moving really slow,

and whenever you do something a few seconds later, this afterimage of you does it, as you kind of jump ahead in the time stream, and you see Valor kind of, like, of magic surrounding Ayla as she does so. So it goes to your turn next, so you are gonna take the thing from Max, empower the thing, and then activate the thing with your second action.

Okay, you are gonna take 14 radiant damage, and then yeah, you feel a very similar familiar sensation as you find yourself in this liminal space and the same request. This time it is a matter of, yeah, spirit and memories and events and connections and things like that that connect that to Ayla specifically

and what that means to Ayla. First strength. Well, spirit. It doesn't necessarily have to be raw strength. What was the explanation of spirit again? It is... I'll read it out for you. Courage, determination, strength, willpower, the long struggles in life, basically.

The will to survive. Aayla's going to remember when we were at the top of the tower in the City of Glass, and we were trying to get the beacon, Sentry's beacon out, to save all of the Guardian race, basically. And we were surrounded by hordes of Feral Guardians coming at us and Lucius let off the biggest spell we had ever seen from him

and Aayla managed to do some heavy damage to Giant. Basically, everyone was working together and had the willpower to work as a team, regardless of the situation, to make sure that we saved part of Erois that needed saving, and an entire race, and the willingness of our entire group of people to do that. Okay.

You feel that connection. Can you make a Say constitution ability score Constitution a constitution check. Yes. So d20 plus your con mod. All right, okay 11 plus 5 it's a 16. 16. Not enough. It's not enough. You feel that same sort of rebuff, like you share this memory and again there is almost this sort of, as if you've not quite made enough.

You begin to see the moments in that memory where it could have gone so wrong. You see your friends not successful but now you almost see a version where the Feral Guardians tore Lucius apart before he could cast that spell, where Sentry was ripped apart by the Overlord and never saved the Guardian. You see this awful turn of events, and it rebuffs you from it.

That is a minus two to your con. You have a level of exhaustion, and that would also be 17 less hit points as well. Okay, I can't alter this on my sheet right now. No, that's fine, you don't need to. And that is the second failure. I'm sorry, I can't. No, no, yeah, it's dice rolls, man.

Like, dice rolls, dice rolls. After Ayla, you see Ayla, all of you see this, like, she's rebuffed in the same way that Max was. She has stumbled backwards. As she emerges, Valor does manage to kind of keep herself ready, like, being able to offer power if it's needed in the ways that she can. Max, it seems that the focalye still has power, at least. It doesn't look like it needs to be repowered just yet.

Max will... He's going to look at you, Ayla. We failed separately, but we're both warriors. When you're backed into a corner, you find a warrior who has your back. He's going to reach out a hand. Yes, Max. And he's going to attempt for the both of you

to try and connect this. Okay. Something odd happens. You watch as previously one person touched it, for the both of you to try and connect to this. Okay. Something odd happens. You watch as previously one person touched it, as both Ayla and Max touch it, there is a sort of flash, and Ayla, I mean, you,

I mean, you see things that are not your own memories. You share a connection, this momentary drift where your memories and Max's align. And it's quite, I wouldn't say harrowing, but for you it's a revelation because you see Max on Alfheim, You see him fighting alongside other elves, fighting off Hadarspawn on this home world. He fights alongside elves that you almost recognise, like people that seem so familiar to you. You see various other wild elves with storm powers, with fire powers, with cold powers,

just like you have this unnatural storm in you. Max has seen others like you and the two of you, your memories mix with his and you think that you're fighting alongside him, but you're also not. You see him training on Gideon Prime. You see him being sworn in and knighted by Kallus. And you feel the pride. You feel this hero. You see him on worlds saving civilians from these alien monstrosities of Hadar.

You experience battles that Max has fought in as if you were Max. And vice versa, Max has the same experiences with you. I'll have you roll this with Strength modifier with advantage as you and Max combine your memories to try and overcome this. Fusion. Yeah. And the DC will be lower as well. Natural 20.

Ah! Yeah! And the DC will be lower as well. Natural 20. Shit! The foci burst to life. And rather than just one line, you now see two arcs of lightning. One to Aayla, one to Maximilian. As they stand there, the forge flares once again to life.

Valena, looking pained, suddenly almost has a moment of respite where she feels this burden taken away from her almost as that third foci bursts into life. But three more still remain and two have already failed. And that is where we're going to end today's episode. What?

Oh, my God. It's the time. Let's, you know... Jeez. So we haven't got many failures left at all. I'm not going to tell you how many, but it's not a lot. It's close. Yeah, it's close.

It's close. It's, you know, this could go either way. Valena, heavily weakened. Valor does have her abilities to share if necessary. And, yeah. Almost, almost. But it's going. So cool. Yeah.

This is very cool. Definitely a lot more sort of... It's not meant to be like, you know, damage is a risk. You know, you guys are still taking damage, but that's not the big risk here. The big risk is like not being able to reach the foci in time not being able to complete these tasks is the bigger bigger problem um uh and yeah these ability checks like i will i will say now like if you have spells that can like give people like your

driven purpose absolutely can be used on these blessed spells guidance spells anything like that would all help on disability checks right so cool with that that is going to be the end of today's episode uh we will see you next time thank you so much for watching until next time bye